Subway turns up the heat with a shot of Sriracha

By Ken Hoffman |
November 13, 2013

This week I reached out for a new Sriracha Steak Melt, part of the recently unveiled "Fiery Footlong Collection," at the No. 1 fast-food joint, Subway, with 40,643 restaurants turning Google Earth into a connect the dots game.

If you're not familiar with Sriracha, you haven't eaten in a restaurant in the past five years. It's the trendiest, hottest hot sauce going. Sriracha, a melting pot of super-scorching chilies, started in little Thai eateries and spread across the menu board to practically every cuisine, where guests answer the burning question, "hot enough for you?"

"Fiery Footlong Collection" … sounds like it should be introduced at Paris Fashion Week.

The fun part of Sriracha is eavesdropping on people trying to pronounce it. "Sir-rah-cha" is close enough.

Subway is hanging the "limited-time only" tag on the Sriracha Steak Melt and Sriracha Chicken Melt, but count on red-hot Sriracha playing a big role in Subway products in the permanent future. In fact, there's a good chance that Sriracha will be the hot sauce - the one and only - in Subway's condiment, well, collection.

Subway dribbled and dabbled with 19 different blends of Sriracha sauces before settling on a creamy, smooth texture.

I expected Subway's take on Sriracha to be medium-hot fastball over the middle of the plate, but the sandwich chain threw me a curve. You'll know it when the Sriracha hits your mouth. It's not mainstream, nuclear-family, middle America hot … it's hot hot. Way to go, Subway. Express yourself!